Title: Nevadans: The spirit of the Silver State
Author: Stanley W. Paher
Year: 2014
Format: 232 pages, brilliantly illustrated with 460 photographs, drawings and maps, bibliographic essay, comprehensive index
This book is a record of the state of Nevada from the first explorers and emigrants through the major mining eras, through the years of the Great Depression and up to modern times. Articles in this book tell of Nevada's entry onto the world's stage, a story of luck, historical circumstances and crafty promotion.
What is the modern role of the convention business, tourism, modern mining, education and aviation? How do these varied industries relate to the state's rich mining and ranching past? How did a relatively small state with its foundations in ranching and gold and silver mining rise to greatness?
The human side of the Silver State is also told through a series of 70 "reflections," short statements by Nevadans who truly love their homeland and its heritage. Might a veteran Nevadan dare to compare a simple, short Christmas parade in a small town on U. S. 95 with New York's Times Square?
Why would a noted Nevada lawyer engaged in a criminal trial in Winnemucca suddenly rush out of a courtroom and man a fire engine? How does a woman on the high slopes of an Elko mountain range communicate successfully with a Frenchspeaking Basque sheepherder?
This book discusses these and scores of other topics of interest, all told by author Stanley Paher and 26 fellow Nevadans experienced in their fields.
About the author:
As an author and publisher of Nevada books and an energetic collector of rare books, maps, photographs, and memorabilia, Stanley Paher has kept alive the history, lore and spirit of the Silver State. He has documented the many diverse aspects of Nevada life in his twenty books and numerous magazine articles. Dedicated to shedding light on Nevada’s past, Paher has enriched the lives of untold number of Nevadans. No other author has matched his sheer scholarly output including books on California and Arizona. Through the years he has become a friend and mentor to dozens of other writers by publishing more than 100 books for budding Nevada authors.
Early in life he found something special about mining camps that drew him toward his life’s work. He found that Nevada’s history was something people wanted to read about. His first book, Nevada’s Ghost Towns and Mining Camps which was published in 1970, was followed by a desert atlas which documents 2,200 historic places, emigrant trails, old stage stations, and mineral sites.
“I love being a keeper of knowledge with the books and articles I have written,” he once said. He turned his passion it into a career and made Nevada’s colorful past available to many generations to come. Indeed, Paher has influenced all aspects of Nevada’s literary universe.
If you seek Stan’s memorial, look around you.
